rschaumb

March 24th at 8:40 AM Thanks for the contest. Makes waiting almost fun

What have you found in terms of finding desert mule deer antlers in the spring vs where you locate them in the fall in their home areas? We find big bucks during the rut but can't find them during the rifle seasons. This year we hope to go looking for sheds in the surrounding areas and were wondering if we happen to find these buck's sheds, is that where they'll be in the fall or is that a totally different area as well? I figured it might be since they're movement isn't snow related like high country deer and elk. Any thoughts and experiences are welcomed. Thanks

This change hurts NR with max or near max bonus points and helps those with lower bonus points to even have a chance. In the same way, it helps Residents with max or near max because they can have a minimum of 15% in the bonus round now so more residents will get taken out during the bonus round, possibly lowering the bonus points needed to have a chance. But it will hurt the draw odds for Residents with lower bonus points because there are so many NR that use to not even have a chance after the bonus draw that now can take up to 5% of the tags during the normal draw. And since there are a lot of NR hunters with lots of bonus points in the premium units, there will be more competition during the normal draw. It might not change the odds very much because they still have a cap but it might affect it slightly in a negative way.

I saw that yesterday. Only got a glimpse and saw cat paws. It looked kinda small and my thought was bobcat but it very well could have been a mountain lion.

You took my tag lol

^ +1

122 5/8. Awesome buck

That's a bummer. I've used nearly 12 and never had a fletching come off. The only problem I've seen is if a air bubble gets caught under the sleeve as hits shrinking. I have had a few with bubbles next to a fletching but they've flown the same. They drop more than my blazers because they are quick spin with grooves and they just slow down. And then with my broadheads they group well but they just hit low because now they are spinning three blades from the broadhead as well. Just my experience. I haven't gotten into fletching my own arrows yet so I went with these and it's worked so far for me.

Awesome pictures. I love snakes (but definitely don't want to get bit while in the back country, or anyplace for that matter) Gopher snake that we got to handle and was very docile Diamondbacks Mahave

Hey guys, I shot a buck on Sunday at 2pm. 27 yards, didn't range him because I knew he was close for 20/30 yard pins to stack in his vitals and I didn't have time to range him. Hit him and I could see the arrow in him so I knew I hit him and it was right in the vital area. When he stopped at 90 yards I could see the arrow sticking out and didn't look like good penetration. It must have hit the shoulder in a bad spot and stopped very quickly. He took off running and I lost sight of him. Long story short, I found a good pile of frothy lung blood where he first stood. Followed blood/tracks for over a mile after an hour wait and the track took another 2 hours. Came up on him and his does again at this point and tried to get another arrow in him but pushed him up and over the ridge, down and up the next and down that one till dark. Followed blood for another 3/4 miles in the dark over two hours. Left it till the morning. Glassed for an hour in the morning to see if he was still walking around with his does again. Found his does and stalked in on them after they got in some thick stuff. Busted the does but no buck. So I went back to the blood and followed for another 1/2 mile over 2 hours and finally lost it. Spent another half hour to hour trying to find the next track or blood and couldn't find anything. What are your guys' thoughts on whether you think he'll live or not. My plan is to go out again tomorrow, Friday and Saturday mornings and glass for a couple hours and then hike around the area where I last saw him and either find him alive and get another arrow in him (I know they can be tough animals), or either find crows or smell him after a few days. This is the first animal I've ever shot with anything and haven't found so it's a huge bummer. But I will try to do everything I can to find him dead or alive. Thanks for your thoughts.

This is the blood where he stood when he stopped at 90 yards. Then we followed blood that was at times easy to spot at a slow walk and at times we were crawling around looking for a BB sized drop anywhere. We did this for over a mile before we jumped him again (which was 3 hours after the shot) and tracked at night for over 3/4 a mile and another half mile during the next morning before I lost it completely.

We were following blood right into the group of does and they just sort of walked off, not knowing what scared them. We assumed the buck was in the trees as well and I wanted to get another arrow in him but then we saw him heading up the hill. He was limping as he hopped up the hill. When we followed him up and over we saw him in the bottom of the ravine heading up the next hill and he must have heard us, though he didn't look back, and booked up the steep hill quicker than I would have thought with an arrow bouncing in his shoulder.

I hope you're right. I just hope to glass him at some point if he's still in the area. I would just really like to know one way or another. It sucks not knowing. But for sure it only hit one lung. It was barely in from the get go. I'm just surprised how much blood there was for so long with a fairly (relative) easy track job.

Will birds find it regardless of how hidden the carcass may be in a tree or whatnot? Just based on smell or coyotes?

Went out this morning and glassed 4 groups of deer. 4 does, 4 does, 5 does and 4/5 does with a big buck and little fork. So then I hiked zig zag all around the area of last blood for 4 miles. Repeat Friday and Sat and hopefully by then the crows or smell will find him for me. Lots of crows around but in 2's or 3's and not clustered. So they should find him for me if he's dead.

Fixed blade RamCat. Almost 70 lbs. I've never had an issue before with these on my 3 javelina, 2 cow elk, and one deer prior to this. I just don't know if he leg was back and I didn't notice, or he jumped the string a bit or if I tucked it in his chest too deep to hit the shoulder like that.

Yeah I plan on getting out a bit to go look for him alive or dead. I know they can go far and I also know they can survive a lot. So I plan on hunting and tracking 50/50. Thanks

Yeah I put a cam on water near by in case he's still alive and heads there. But if he died on the way to water; I could try looking around those areas. Thanks for the input

Over a mile of that tracking was after bumping him. And he went right back into the area where I shot him originally.

I tracked him for over 2 miles total.

The arrow was still in him when we jumped him 3 hours in and never found it along his blood trail so I believe it's still in him but probably just hanging on by the broadhead in his shoulder blade.

I'd like to get better at judging coues antlers. I think a great way of doing that would be for everyone to post a picture of your bucks along with their scores. I measured this at 92-93 gross. A friend of mine who has measured many more deer got 95-96 gross. So let's see what you've got. Size doesn't matter as long as you scored it. Thanks

Yeah I can see how it is difficult to judge Coues. From looking at a lot of these photos, now I'm not sure if I've even seen a 100" buck before. Definitely some 90's. Guess I just have to get them on the ground to know for sure.

Thanks for posting your pictures. Thank you Amanda. That's exactly what I was looking for.

22 archery for my brother, friend and myself with deer tags in our pockets. Though once we kill pigs, it's back to 24B for archery deer. Unless 22 is hot at the time where we're at.